The present invention relates generally to the field of secure communication, and more particularly to techniques for secure electronic distribution of music and other types of content over a network or other communication medium.
Security is an increasingly important concern in the delivery of music or other types of content over global communication networks such as the Internet. More particularly, the successful implementation of such network-based content delivery systems depends in large part on ensuring that content providers receive appropriate copyright royalties and that the delivered content cannot be pirated or otherwise subjected to unlawful exploitation.
With regard to delivery of music content, a cooperative development effort known as Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI) has recently been formed by leading recording industry and technology companies. The goal of SDMI is the development of an open, interoperable architecture for digital music security. This will answer consumer demand for convenient accessibility to quality digital music, while also providing copyright protection so as to protect investment in content development and delivery. SDMI has already produced a standard specification for portable music devices, the SDMI Portable Device Specification, Part 1, Version 1.0, 1999. The longer-term effort of SDMI is currently working toward completion of an overall architecture for delivery of digital music in all forms.
Despite SDMI and other ongoing efforts, existing techniques for secure distribution of music and other content suffer from a number of significant drawbacks. For example, many such techniques require that the content provider be explicitly identified to the content consumer upon delivery of the content, i.e., these techniques generally do not allow the content provider to remain completely anonymous in the absence of a dispute. Unfortunately, this type of arrangement may not be desirable or cost-effective in certain applications, particularly for content providers that are individuals or small businesses. As another example, conventional techniques generally do not provide a centralized mechanism by which all content providers can securely register their work. Content providers are therefore not treated equally under these existing techniques, i.e., larger providers who can afford the expense associated with implementation of complex security measures have an advantage over smaller providers.
As is apparent from the above, a need exists for improved techniques for distributing SDMI-compliant music and other types of content.
The present invention provides methods and apparatus for secure distribution of music and other types of content. The invention allows content to be registered with a centralized trusted registration authority (TRA) in such a way that it can be distributed anonymously, such that the identity of the content provider need not be disclosed until a dispute arises.
Content distribution in a first illustrative embodiment of the invention is implemented in accordance with a content distribution protocol which provides unbound rights management, i.e., secure registration of content such that usage rights for the content are not bound to the content itself. In this embodiment, distributed content is not protected by encryption, i.e., confidentiality of content is not provided. However, the content is protected against piracy, due to the fact that the content provider is certified by the TRA, and thus can be traced or otherwise identified in the event that irregularities are detected. Since the usage rights are not bound to the content, the content provider can change the usage rights after the content has been registered with the TRA. Content distribution in second and third illustrative embodiments of the invention is implemented in accordance with content distribution protocols which provide unbound and bound rights management, respectively, with encryption-based content confidentiality.
Advantageously, the content distribution methods and apparatus of the invention can provide convenient, efficient and cost-effective protection for all content providers. These and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the accompanying drawings and the following detailed description.